Saturday October 21
Letters from Baghdad
Dramatised documentary based on the life and letters of the extraordinary Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire, and her role in re-shaping the Middle East after WW1.
UK 2016, 95 minutes, PG
Directed by Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum , Starring Tilda Swinton, Ammar Haj Ahmad, Adam Astill, Tom Chadbon
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire of her day. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, she shaped the modern Middle East after World War I in ways that still reverberate today.
Voiced and produced by Academy award winning actor Tilda Swinton, the documentary chronicles the dramatic career of this British spy, explorer and political power broker. Bell travelled widely in Arabia before being recruited by British military intelligence to help draw the borders of Iraq after WWI.
Using never-seen-before footage of the region, the film follows Bell’s unprecedented journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British (male) colonial power. It takes us into a past that can seem eerily current and brings to life a remarkable woman whose story was in danger of being forgotten.
View trailer here.
Friday October 27
The Other Side of Hope
Hilariously deadpan comic take on the refugee crisis: a Syrian asylum seeker escapes from a Finnish detention centre and finds refuge with a dour poker playing restauranteur. Certificate 12A.
View trailer here.
Sunday October 29, 7.00 pm
To help raise funds for Thame Citizens Advice Bureau, we present Viceroy’s House, starring Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon and Hugh Bonneville.
Tickets £10 which includes a donation of £5 to the Thame CAB. All further profits from the screening will also be donated.
Lord Mountbatten, the final Viceroy of India, is charged with overseeing transition to independence and handing India back to its people, but conflict ensues as different sides clash in the face of monumental change.
Trailer here
Tickets (for this film only) available by phoning 01844 260603, or from Thame CAB, Montesson Square, or online from thamecinema.org.uk (booking fee applies)
